Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett named Oak Creek native Adam Schlicht to be the director of Port Milwaukee in 2018.
Schlicht oversees and directs the port’s multimodal, commercial, and cruise ship operations, which generates over $100 million in local economic activity annually. He has a staff of 20 employees.
A longtime employee of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. at the U.S. Department of Transportation in both Washington, D.C. and Cleveland, Ohio, Schlicht has significant experience in marine transportation, international marketing, and Great Lakes shipping. He was involved in the effort to establish, and then led, the Seaway’s international trade office in Cleveland.
Activity at the port has increased under Schlicht’s leadership. Total cargo handled at the port was up 11% in 2019, and Schlicht spearheaded the successful effort to secure more than $31 million in public and private investment to fund a new agricultural export facility at the port. The number of cruise ships stopping in Milwaukee rose from four in 2018 to 10 in 2019, and Viking Cruises recently announced its selection of Port Milwaukee as its turnaround home port for their new Great Lakes cruises, set to begin in 2022.
